I'm a Survivor!

WOOOOHOOOO! Somehow, I have survived another busy season at KPMG.  I am soooo thankful that today is March 30th and we managed to get my last client's 10-K filed, although there was a point yesterday where we weren't sure that would happen.  Eeeeek! The thought of that just made my stomach turn, thinking that my busy season would not end.  The amount of hours that I charged for the month of March is ridiculous.  I've been a little cranky this last week, drinking about four Diet Dr. Peppers a day, and eating nearly everything in sight. (I'm a stress eater, what can I say.)  I probably haven't had more than 5 hours of sleep a night all month long.  But it's done, and there's no sense in whining about it.  What's done is done, and what's important is that I won't be doing it again.  As tough as busy season was, I had such a great team working for with me.  My staff and seniors are incredibly hard workers and just power through it.  They have eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner in that dang audit room for weeks now.  I guess I had it a little easier, since I was able to take a 'break' from working to come pick up the kids, eat dinner, and put them to bed.  I seriously don't know why we do this to ourselves year after year.  It's not like they pay me millions.  Okay, maybe close.  Hah, just kidding!  But it's definitely all about the people, and I'm thankful for the other members of my teams that busted their butt in getting this done.

Now, onto more important things.  No work for me for the next nine days!!  YAY! I don't have to be anything other than a Mommy and a wifey.  Okay, well, and a party planner.  My sister's bridal shower is in two weeks and I have got to kick it into high gear and start throwing this party together.  After all, I do consider myself the hostess with the mostess. :)  And I will get to experience Canton for the very first time this weekend! How have I made it through my life without ever venturing off into this crafter's haven? I don't know, but I'm ready to see what all the fuss is about.

I know I have a week off, but I have lots of appointments and a long to-do list:  Chase's 15-month check-up, endocrinologist appointment for me, date day with my hubby, prep for Easter Bunny arrival, etc.  Man, when am I going to fit in my required naps!?

Oh, and guess who decided to finally let go and be a big boy! This guy, right here!  He still definitely prefers to crawl, because it's faster for him, but he's starting to get a little daring on his own. Love him!

This is it!

Oh, the month of March, how I despise you. I'm torn between playing outside in this beautiful 80 degree weather and staying in to be glued to my laptop for work. It's a fine line, because I will spend every moment with the kiddos that I can. Even if it means that I will be up til 1 or 2am doing work. Which is what I have been doing lately. Surprisingly, I'm not even really all that tired. I guess your body just gets used to the amount of sleep at some point. I'm just over it. But we've finally reached our 'finale', if you will, and we will be wrapping up this week.  Thursday if I'm lucky, but knowing my clients, most likely Friday.  So, now we're just in the final push to wrap up everything.

The only thing keeping me going right now (and not making me gouge my eyes out and throw my laptop across the room) is that I'll be going into my new rotation in a few months. That means this will be my last busy season for at least another two years.  My hope is that I won't return to client service after that, but that's a whole other blog! So, here I go. I will be living and breathing auditing nearly 24 hours a day for the next week.  Ugh!

I will miss these smiling little faces this week! Thanks to my amazing husband, in-laws, Miss Candace from the boys' school, and Meow-Meow & LoLo for helping pick up the slack lately and getting us all through it!  The end is in sight!

Batter Up!

I knew that after I had one son, I would be involved with sports for the next 18 years.  Then another son, so my life with definitely be consumed with sports.  So, it begins. :)  Austin loves sports, any and all.  He's enrolled in the 'Amazing Athletes' program at school where an outside group comes in once a week to work on different sports activities with them.  He's taken quite an interest in baseball I've noticed.  Could it be that Uncle LoLo lives for baseball and has started to rub off on him?!  Possibly!  Anyways, I've been wanting to get Austin signed up for some organized sports.  Soccer had just started; and let's face it, March is not the best time for me to be toting him around to practice/games with my busy work schedule right now.  But we're just in time for t-ball!! We're so excited!  And one of his buddies in his class is signed up as well, and we're hoping they'll be on the same team.

Austin has a little plastic t-ball set, but that just wasn't going get the job done for actual organized t-ball. So, off to Target we go this weekend to pick up a bat, some balls, a glove, and an adjustable tee.  We even got in some good practice sessions this weekend .  He's definitely got the batting part down and can hit a line drive for sure.  But he still needs to work on the catching part.  He expects the ball to just go right in there, without him having to move his glove anywhere. Such a silly boy.  I picture him being the kid in the outfield picking flowers. :)

I'm excited to find out what team we'll be on, who he plays with, and all the fun antics that come with 3-year olds playing some t-ball!  I even signed up to be Team Mom! Not sure what that job entails, but sign me up!

Who's Got The Most Handsome Blue-Eyed Boy?!

I do!  Couldn't resist sharing these awesome pics I snapped of Chase this afternoon!  (Austin wasn't in the mood for pics, so he's MIA from this post!)

My Boys!

Love these boys!  They constantly put a smile on my face, no matter what!  I'm slacking on taking pictures of them lately, but I'm trying to be in the moment with them. :)

Austin taking Chase for spin on a beautiful day!

He gets serious when it comes to his food!

My technology-savvy 3-year old on the iPad



Distinguished What?!

A few months ago, I received a phone call from the head of the department of accounting at Texas A&M-Commerce.  They wanted me to be their Alumni Ambassador for 2012.  Apparently, every year each department at the university selects one alumni to represent their department who has gone on to be successful after graduating from there.  And they wanted me?!  It doesn't seem like I would fit the bill, but I entertained the idea.  In addition to attending the luncheon and awards ceremony, they also wanted me to come speak to a group of accounting students.  Wait! Public speaking is still not one of my strong suits.  I get super-nervous about it.  Anyways, there could not have been a worse time than this week at work for me to miss pretty much an entire day.  But I did it.  I was so busy the past few weeks with work that I have been procrastinating on writing my speech/talking points for the class.  Work just piled up, so after I finished my work the night before, I was up til 1:30am writing my speech!  Needless to say I was exhausted on my big day.  I was also allowed to bring a guest with me.  I initially thought of bringing Jordan; although he would be bored out of his mind, he would go if I really asked him too.  But then I thought, what person has been so instrumental in helping me select my career path and being a great mentor to me for 15 years?  My high school accounting teacher, Mrs. Richardson.  Not only was she a terrific teacher to me for four years, we have kept in touch and she has been a part of other big days: my wedding, baby showers for both my boys, and long heart-to-heart talks when I've needed someone to listen.  She's always a voice of reason.  She was the perfect person to attend with me, and she so graciously took the whole day off of work to go with me.

I hate to admit it, but Thursday was my first day back to campus since the day I walked across the stage to collect my diplomas in December 2004.  Woopsie.  Needless to say, the campus has changed in the past seven years, and new buildings are everywhere.  I'm so glad I printed off a campus map to help me find my way.  I made my way (in the cold rain!) to the new Alumni Center for a breakfast reception to meet the accounting department head and mingle with him, other professors/deans, and the other 35 or so alumni ambassadors for their respective departments.  I totally felt out of place and much younger than nearly everyone else there.  Could I really be considered distinguished enough and be among such great company to receive this award?!  After mingling for an hour or so, we headed over to the Business building to get ready for the class I would be speaking to.  When I was first approached about this, I was asked to speak about 40  minutes.  WTH?!  What in the world could I talk about for that long?  They wanted me to talk about my career at KPMG, what I did, and encourage other students to pursue a career in accounting (not necessarily public accounting like me).  Our recruiting department at work was nice enough to hook me up with some KPMG magazines about us and internship opportunities and also some neat little supply kits with our logo on it.  What kid wouldn't want some free stuff?

After being introduced, I stepped up to the podium to face about 80 students.  Gulp!  My heart was pounding out of my chest as I began to speak.  After about 5 minutes, I finally calmed down and managed to speak for 30 minutes.  I answered some questions from both students and professors, they applauded me and I made my exit.  Yay me, I did it!  I felt so much relief after I was done.  I hope I didn't scare them; after all, March is not exactly the best time of year for me to be positive and encouraging about a career in accounting when I'm working crazy hours. :)

After relaxing with the department head and Mrs. Rich for a few minutes, we headed over to the luncheon portion, where they introduced each alumni ambassador, read a bio about us, and received our award.  I had to write my own bio beforehadn, which was weird to talk about myself in third-person.  Odd for sure.  Finally, we had all been recognized, posed for some pictures, and I was on my way.

Although I had so much anxiety about going to speak and didn't necessarily want to take the time away from work to attend, I'm so glad that I did.  I may not have gone to some big prestigious university like SMU, but I'm still pretty dang proud of myself for being selected as the accounting department's alumni ambassador for TAMU-C.  After all, I was the first person on both sides of my family to attend and graduate from college.  I'm thankful for the recognition, and for Mrs. Richardson for coming out to support me.  She's always there for me when I need her!

Anyways, that's me, a distinguished alumni, after only being out of school for 7 years.  Eeeeek! :)

Seriously?!

Crazy busy week at work, coupled with unanswered health concerns and continued family drama. Yay!

I go back and forth on my posts, whether it's a sweet update on the kiddos, something silly, vacations, or drama about our lives. Sometimes I think I may blog a little too much information.  But, it's my blog and I can write what I want. If you don't like it, don't read it! It's also a form of therapy for me, to get all of my thoughts and emotions out on paper (or keyboard).  I don't have time for real therapy, so this is as good as it gets for me.

My family is no stranger to drama, just like everyone else's.  But sometimes I wonder if we have more than the average family, and usually I think that we do.  This is completely not normal!  On top of all the stress I have right now, my phone rang at work today.  After glancing at the caller ID, I quickly hit the ignore button, as I was not in any kind of mood to hear my biological father's voice on the other end of the line.  Mind you, I probably haven't spoken to him in over a year, or seen him in nearly two.  We don't have any sort of relationship, and he has not been a part of any major events in my life: my childhood, high school graduation, wedding, college graduation, or the birth of either of my kids.  And his absence is fine by me.  The only memories I have from my childhood of him are less than pleasant.  On our weekend visitations with him when I was in elementary school, my sister and I would frequently be left unattended and wander around the streets, while he lay passed out from his drunken night before.  Or on other occasions, he would just take us with him to play video games at the bar while he got hammered.  Or the one time when he got arrested for a DWI while I was in the car with him, and got to ride to the station in the police car.  Those are all vivid memories of my times with him.  Over the years, his drinking got more excessive and the drug use out of control as well.  Needless to say, he is not right in the head these days. It really amazes me how something terrible didn't happen to us while with him, or why we're not raging alcoholics ourselves and turned out to be relatively normal and successful. It drives me absolutely crazy when people make excuses for how their life has gone, because they had a bad upbringing or unhealthy examples.  Life is what you make of it; and at some point, you learn the difference between right/wrong and what kind of life you deserve.   

Fast forward to today, when I played back the voicemail he left for me.  I expected to hear the usual slurred speech and a conversation that just didn't make sense.  Instead, there was just one sentence, 'I am deleting you and your phone number from my life.'  Yep, that was it.  Granted, we don't have any form of relationship these days, but the words still hurt.  I am his daughter.  And he may have just been drunk/high/delusional and spouting off things he may not even remember tomorrow.  If he is out of my life for good, then so be it.  I don't need people who don't value me and my family, and who live a life that I disagree with.  You want to delete me from your life, well welcome to the club.  It seems to be a trend these days.

I will continue to surround myself with only those who love me and my family, and that bring happiness into my life, not drama.  On that note, I will be spending the weekend with the most awesome people in my life! I am thankful everyday for each and every one of them.